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Title	Medical Conditions as a contributing factor in casualty crash causation
Authors	Lindsay VL, Ryan GA
Year	2011
Type	Conference Paper
Abstract	Road users with medical conditions are at increased risk of being involved in a casualty crash. The extent of the problem, however, has not been known. Between 2008 and 2010 CASR undertook a study to determine the proportion of casualty crashes resulting in admission to hospital that were directly associated with the effects of a medical condition or an acute medical event. The study involved examination of the primary source hospital medical records for drivers, motorcycle riders, pedestrians and cyclists involved in crashes on public roads in South Australia who presented to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for four hours or more during the three year period. A total of 1,490 medical records were accessed. These records were matched with a number of other data sources including Vehicle Collision Records generated by South Australian Police, licensing records from the SA Department of Motor Registration and drug and alcohol screening records generated by the Forensic Science Centre of South Australia. This detailed examination of the circumstances surrounding each person�s involvement in a crash enabled identification of those crashes that occurred as the direct result of a medical condition or acute medical event, as opposed to those for which a crash participant�s pre-existing medical condition(s) were unrelated. The study found that more than 11% of the crashes involved an active participant with a confirmed medical condition or acute medical event considered to be a contributing factor in the crash causation. A medical condition or acute medical event was found to be a contributing factor in crash causation across all road user types, however, drivers were found to be more likely than all other road users to be identified as being involved in a crash because of these. A medical condition or acute medical event was found to be a contributing factor in crash causation for 18% of the drivers in the study. Age was found to be an important factor in the study, particularly for those over 70 years of age. While those over 70 years accounted for 11.4% of all participants in the study, they were found to constitute more than 30% of those participants involved in a crash as the result of a medical condition or event. This presentation will outline the medical conditions found to have directly contributed to the crash and discuss how this information might be used to identify those at increased risk of crash involvement .
Conference Name	10th National Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion
Conference Location	Brisbane
Conference Date	2-4 November 2011
Notes	abstract book only available online at http://www.icebergevents.com/injuryprevention2011/

Reference

Lindsay VL, Ryan GA (2011). Medical Conditions as a contributing factor in casualty crash causation. 10th National Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Brisbane, 2-4 November 2011.